Hard Time
by GylzGirl
Summary: Rupert Giles tries to get on with things in the aftermath of Graduation Day 2. An old friend intends to make that as difficult as possible.


Hard Time  
  
by GylzGirl  
  
  
Disc: Joss owns all. Fox and WB too. Not I, dagnabbit.  
Rating: PG. We have a little language people, that's about it.  
Spoilers: Grad 2  
Written: 1999  
  
******  
  
  
Giles looked up at the dim daylight as he shifted uncomfortably on the hard bunk. He no sooner turned his back to the door then he heard the rattle of keys and the sound of footsteps. He rolled back over, sitting up slightly to get a better view and then scowled bitterly when he recognized his visitor.  
  
"You know, I just happened to be back in town for a bit. I stopped to get a paper and simply could not believe my eyes. I bought twenty copies just to be sure." Giles grimaced and placed the pillow over his head as Ethan Rayne, a smile beaming ear to ear, snapped the paper loudly and cleared his throat. "Disgruntled Librarian Levels High School in Graduation Day Massacre. Mayor, Principal, student bodies found in the rubble." Ethan looked on as Giles pulled the pillow tighter over his ears. He spoke louder. "Rupert Giles, a British citizen in his late forties...Oh Ripper, you must be getting on a bit for them to have added years to you," he said, leaning against the bars of Giles' cell. He continued, "has been arrested in the Graduation Day explosion that leveled the campus of Sunnydale High School. The police have released no details at this time. Mr. Giles has an extensive criminal record as a youth in his homeland and was brought in for questioning last year in the death of a woman who was found murdered in his home. The twosome had been seeing each other off and on for about a year and had, according to neighbors, unamicably broken up not long before her death, however no charges were filed in that case. Shall I continue?"   
  
"Depends. When I get out of here, and I will get out of here, would you like to live?"  
  
"Oh we do have a temper this morning. Is that the kind of attitude you really want to show to the one person who can go to the paper and fill in all the colorful details of your misspent youth...um with the pictures to prove it." Ethan pulled an 8 by 10 black and white picture of a 20-year-old Giles, holding up numbers for an arrest photo and giving the camera a two-fingered salute, out of his jacket.  
  
"What do you want?"  
  
"Who says I want anything? Maybe I just stopped in to gloat? Or maybe I stopped in to offer my help out of the kindness and generosity of my own heart?"  
  
Giles quirked an eyebrow. "I think this is the part where I break out laughing uncontrollably. Pity I'm not in the mood. Again I ask, what do you want?"  
  
Ethan put his face between the bars and curled his hands around them possessively. "I want you back. I want you helping me with the magick again. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm good," he said with a prideful smirk, "but together, now that would be a sight. What do you say?"  
  
Giles lay back down on his cot and turned his back to the door again. "I say I'm sleeping. Go away."  
  
"Sure you won't change your mind? Last chance."  
  
"Piss off."  
  
"Fine." Ethan turned to the door and raised his hand to knock for the guard. Suddenly he stopped and faced Giles once more. "Maybe that plucky little redhead will be interested. After all, with you rotting away in here, you're hardly in a position to stop me. I could tell her it's a way to save you. That should get my foot in the door so to speak. By the time she figures out anything different, she'll have too much of a taste for it to stop."  
  
Giles rolled over. "Ethan wait."  
  
"You know I am starting to like this plan. The things I can show that child. Well hardly a child, a young woman. A very lovely young woman."  
  
"Ethan," Giles' voice was low, dangerous.  
  
"And we both know how magick can stir the passions, don't we Ripper old boy?"  
  
"Leave her alone, and I will help you."  
  
Ethan shook his head. "You know, I like my new idea better. I'm sorry old man but not this time."  
  
"Ethan." Ethan rapped on the door, which was promptly opened by an uniformed police officer. Ethan turned and smiled at Giles as he exited. Giles sprang up off of his bunk. "Ethan wait!" The guard glared at Giles as he shut the door once more. Giles arm jutted through the bars, outstretched toward the bolted door. "Ethan! Please! Ethan! Ethan!"   
  
"ETHAN!!!!" Giles sat bolt upright in his bed as his alarm clock went off. He groggily shook his head and shut off the buzzer. It was only habit that set the clock in the first place, since he no longer had a job to go to, since he'd blown up the school, since...   
  
Giles lay back on his bed and covered his eyes with his arm. He had just about succeeded in falling back to sleep when he remembered he had set the alarm for a reason. He had an interview at the University that Buffy and Willow were going to be attending, and he was going to be late!  
  
  
  
******  
  
  
Giles sat in the waiting room outside the University President's office. He nervously drummed his fingers against the briefcase he'd brought, much to the annoyance of the receptionist. He smiled apologetically and set the case at his feet. He was running interview scenarios through his head. 'No sir, I am sorry. I don't have a letter of recommendation from my previous supervisor. You see, I blew him up. I assure you, he had already been eaten and was quite dead at the time.' A buzzer sounded on the receptionist's desk. She informed Giles he could go in now. Giles smoothed down his suit-front and entered the office.   
  
A tall, white-haired man smiled as he stood and greeted him. "Mr. Giles, I have looked over your credentials and must say I couldn't be more pleased to have such a qualified candidate for the Mythology, Demonology and Occult Religions Chair. Please have a seat." Giles smiled as he sank into the chair in front of the President's desk. "There was only one other applicant who even came close, and I must say I have had a devil of a time deciding between the two of you. I've decided to interview you both at once, if you have no objections?"  
  
Giles shook his head. "No, that sounds fine to me."  
  
"Splendid." He pressed a button on the intercom on his desk. "Please send him in." The door opened and the President smiled. "Ah yes, Mr. Giles, allow me to introduce," Giles turned and all the color drained from his face, "Mr. Ethan Rayne." 


End file.
